Gone, but Not Forgotten
by bookwriter-lover1212
Summary: After the death of their parents Frank, Joe, and their younger sister, Brooke Hardy must solve the murder and keep their family together. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

"Frank! What's up?!"

"Hey Joe!"

"I'm having a party Friday night! You guys should come!"

I scowled to myself and pushed my way through the crowd that was starting to form around our car. It was like this every morning at school, we would arrive and under a minute later a crowd of people were yelling to get Frank and Joe's attention like they're some kind of celebrities, then I would slip away unnoticed. I made a bee line for my locker so I could get to my homeroom faster to avoid being caught by Angie Winters who's been tormenting me since elementary school. I quickly entered my combination into my locker, but it remained locked.

"No," I whispered to myself as I jiggled the handle. I tried the combination again and this time it opened.

"Thank you," I sighed. I grabbed my books and slammed my locker shut.

"Hey Brooke," Angie's sickly sweet voice said. I swallowed heavily as her group of friends surrounded me, making it impossible to escape. I searched the hallways for anyone who could help me as Angie was hurling insults at me. I saw Joe turn the corner and I stared at him mentally pleading with him to help me. Joe never even looked up at me.

"Hey Bitch are you even listening to these insults? I spend a lot of time trying to make your life miserable, the least you could do is pay attention," Angie said with disgust. She looked back to where I was staring and she turned back to me smiling.

"Face it, your own brothers don't want anything to do with you. He won't help you even if he was looking," Angie laughed lightly. "Come on, girls." Angie slapped my books onto the floor and shoved me against a locker with a big thud. I sighed and bent down to pick up my books and papers. I looked back up at Joe to find him staring at me still surrounded by his friends who were talking and laughing. She was right, he wouldn't help me. I scooped up all my books and rushed to my homeroom for safety.

All through the day my mind wandered between what Angie had said and Joe staring at me. When the final bell rang I walked slowly to my locker not even having the energy to worry about Angie. Of course, the lockers are alphabetical by last name so my locker was right beside Joe's. I had been planning on avoiding him for the rest of the day. I silently opened my locker while scanning for Angie.

"She's already gone," Joe said. I scowled and unpacked my books. Joe closed his locker and stood next me staring down at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, just waiting for you so we can go home," He replied.

"You can go ahead, I'll catch up," I said.

"No, I can wait," He said. I sighed and zipped up my backpack. I closed my locker and scanned the hallway once more. Joe was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," He replied and grabbed the algebra book out of my hands.

"Hey! Give it back," I said.

"I'm just carrying it for you, calm down," He said.

"I can carry my own books," I replied angrily. He just shrugged and we started the walk towards the car.

"Hey Joe, who's your girlfriend?" one of Joe's jock friends came jogging up beside us.

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked. The guy gave Joe a look then looked at me.

"What? No! Brooke is my sister!" Joe exclaimed.

"Dude, I had no idea you had a sister," The guy said. I blushed and Joe rolled his eyes.

"See you later," Joe said and slid into the passenger seat of the car while I climbed into the back. We could see Frank socializing with some of his friends a little ways from the car. Joe suddenly turned around in his seat scaring me a little.

"How long has Angie Winters been bullying you?" Joe asked.

"She's not bullying me," I replied quietly.

"I saw her with you this morning. She's bullying you!" Joe said get slightly upset.

"Not that anyone would care," I said and leaned my forehead against the glass window. The drivers side door opened and Frank slid in.

"Frank! Brooke is being bullied!" Joe blurted. Frank looked back at me.

"By who?!" He asked. I didn't reply so Joe spoke up.

"Angie Winters!" Joe said.

"No way, Angie Winters is too nice to bully anyone," Frank said. I rolled my eyes. Of course he would think that a pretty girl is too nice to bully anyone.

"No, Frank! I saw it with my own eyes! She's bullying our sister," Joe said. Frank gave Joe a disbelieving look and started the car.

"She's not bullying me," I said to end the conversation.

"Brooke just said she's not bullying her," Frank said. Joe growled in frustration and leaned back in his seat.

"This isn't over," He said.

"Yes it is," I said. The rest of the car ride home was silent as Joe fumed in the passenger seat and I sat gloomily in the back with my head against the window. Frank looked over with a concerned look at Joe, but said nothing. When the car pulled into the driveway I didn't jump to get out of the car. I had lost my energy again. I grabbed my bags and headed to my room. I heard Joe slam his bedroom door, which I found to be completely unnecessary since he wasn't the one being bullied. I went up to my room and flopped down onto the bed.

"Joe open the door," Frank yelled and knocked on Joe's bedroom door which he shared with Frank.

"No! Go away!" Came Joe's muffled response.

"Come on, Joe! It's my room too!" Frank yelled.

"You don't deserve it," Joe yelled back. Frank sighed and went back down stairs. It was quiet for a moment until I heard Joe's door open and heard his footsteps enter my room. He closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of my bed. I curled up into a ball automatically to give him more room forgetting I was sort of mad at him.

"Brooke, why won't you tell us what's going on?" Joe asked gently, his tone completely different from earlier. I shook my head and he sighed. I thought back to all the things that Angie had ever done to me starting with how she used to try to get me in trouble in the first grade and then that time when she tripped in middle school but got me suspended because she said I shoved her. I thought back to all the different insults she gave me on a daily basis and how she was the reason I had no friends because she would spread rumors about me. I struggled to hold back tears that I had been keeping in for the last 10 years.

"Hey, it's ok," Joe whispered and pulled me into his arms. I buried my head into his shirt and let the tears come silently.

"I'm so sorry I didn't see this earlier," Joe said. I shook my head. I could speak but I wanted him to know it wasn't his fault.

"Joe?" Frank called for his brother probably wondering where he had gone to after unlocking their room.

"Brooke, have you seen..." Frank asked coming into the room.

"What's going on?" Frank asked looking confused.

"I already told you what was going on, but you didn't believe me," Joe replied. I detached myself from Joe and dried my eyes. Frank sat down on the bed on the other side of me.

"You're really being bullied by Angie?" Frank asked. I nodded.

"For how long?" He asked.

"Since the first grade," I whispered.

"The first grade?! Oh my god! How could I have missed that?" Joe asked.

"She was really sneaky about it," I said.

"We're teenage op- I mean we're your brothers we're supposed to notice this stuff!" Joe said. It was suspicious how he just all of a sudden changed his sentence but I let it slide and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, it's really weird we didn't notice," Frank said thoughtfully.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys.**

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	2. Chapter 2

The alarm clock beeped letting me know it was 6:30 and time to face the world. I groaned and turned off the alarm, but remained in bed for a moment longer. The smell of waffles wafted up to my room, motivating me to start the day. I pulled myself out of bed and into the bathroom. I blindly got ready for school and slid into my usual seat at the breakfast table.

"Good morning, Sweetie," Mom said and kissed my cheek while placing a plate in front of me. On the plate was a waffle with two eggs and a strip of bacon to make a smiley face. Mom was always doing cute stuff like that for my brothers and I. Frank came downstairs and grabbed a plate from Mom. Frank talked with Dad as I ate my breakfast. Joe still hadn't appeared for breakfast yet. I checked the clock on the wall and it was almost 7. I took one last drink of milk before depositing my dirty dishes into the sink. Frank did the same and grabbed his car keys.

"Come on, Joe! We're going to be late!" Frank called up the stairs for him. Frank and I waited at the bottom of the stairs. Joe came running down the stairs and tripped on the last stair. Unfortunately, he caught himself by grabbing onto my backpack making me lose my balance. Frank grabbed my arm and we were able to stay standing.

"Sorry, Brooke!" Joe breathed heavily.

"Lets just go," Frank said and we followed him to the car. All the way to school Joe kept scratching at his ear and it was really starting to bother me.

"Joe! Will you stop that!" I said when we were almost to the school.

"Stop doing what?" He asked.

"Scratching at your ear like that. You look like a dog with fleas," I replied.

"Oh, sorry. It's just really itchy," He said. I shook my head and sighed, but he stopped messing with his ear. We arrived at school and I dreaded getting out of the car. Unlike every other morning I got out a little slower and got caught in the crowd of Frank and Joe's friends. They didn't notice me, but getting through them was difficult.

"Excuse me," I said politely, but of course they couldn't hear me.

"Excuse me!" I yelled and they still wouldn't move. I sighed as I tried to shove through them. It was like I was nothing more than a fly. Joe must have noticed my predicament.

"Yo guys! You're blocking my sisters way," Joe said.

"Oh sorry, man. We didn't know she was your sister," One guy said and the rest mumbled in agreement. I sighed and move through them. I was hoping Angie had already gone by and saw that I wasn't by my locker, but just my luck we entered the hallway at the same time. I thought about turning back the other way, but she had already seen me.

"Oh Brooke!" She called out.

"How unpleasant to see you Angela," I replied with a sarcastic smile.

"I'm having a party this weekend too bad you aren't invited. I'll be sure to invite Frank and Joe. Everyone loves Frank and Joe! You wouldn't have any fun anyway because you don't have any friends," Angela said and smirked.

"excuse me, Angela. You're in front of my locker," Joe said with his winning smile.

"Oh, Joe! Just the boy I was looking for! I'm having a party this weekend and would looooove for you to come!" Angela said returning to her bubbly, fake, personality.

"Oh will you be there?" Joe asked.

"Of course, it's my party," Angela said and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Then, no thanks. I have better things to do on my weekends," Joe replied. Angela stuttered looking for something to say, but came up with nothing.

"Excuse me, but you're still in front of my locker," Joe said. Angela scowled and walked away without another word. Joe laughed and opened his locker. I just stared at him.

"What?" He said. I shook my head.

"Thank you," I said and turned back to my locker and entered the combination.

"No problem. It's what brother's are for," Joe said and smiled at me.

"It's a good thing your locker is next to mine, otherwise she would have torn me apart," I said.

"Yeah, good thing," He said.

**...**

"Frank? What's going on?" I asked as we pulled in front of our house after the long day of school. Police were parked along our driveway and the chief waited in front of the house. The neighbors littered the sidewalks and some even peeked through their front windows to see what was going on.

"I don't know, Brooke," Frank replied, "but whatever it is, it can't be good." Frank turned off the car and we got out. Frank started over to the chief first and Joe and I followed behind.

"What's going on?" Frank asked the chief.

"Something terrible has happened, kids," He replied.

"Chief, just tell us what's going on," Joe said.

"Your parents have been murdered. Both were here in the home when they were shot. Your mother was shot first in the kitchen and then your father in his office," the chief said.

"No, it's not possible," Joe said shaking his head. I grabbed his hand, more for my comfort than his own. He pulled his hand out of mine and ran into the house.

"Mom! Dad!" I heard him call out, but I didn't follow behind him. Frank followed him into the house and yelled after him. I didn't want to go in. I don't think I could have handled it.

"I'm very sorry about your parents. They were good people. Sad this had to happen to them," The chief said and went back to his police car. He spoke into a walkie talkie and then one by one the police cars pulled out of the driveway. The one question that was burning through my mind was who did this? I wanted to find them and I wanted them to be put behind bars.

The front door of the house was still wide open from when Frank and Joe had run into the house, but I still didn't enter. Instead, I walked in the opposite direction and down the street to a park we used to go to when we were kids. I sat on the swings and gently swayed back and forth. Memories of when I was little came flooding back to me. My mother pushing me on these very swings and my father chasing the boys around. Laughter filled my mind and tears began streak down my cheeks. I had been sitting there for much longer than I had intended to because the sun had set and it was dark outside. I looked up at the stars and more tears fell as I remembered several camping trips and all the wishes I had made on the stars then with parents right by my side. I wept loudly knowing that no one would be coming by here at night. I let the hot tears fall freely and I clutched my sides.

"Brooke?!" I heard someone call. I tried to get myself to stop crying so they wouldn't see me, but it was no use, the tears kept coming.

"Brooke!" Another voice called out and I recognized it as my brother's.

"Frank! Joe!" I called back, but the voice sounded thick and foreign from my tears. I saw their silhouettes on the sidewalk and they shined a flashlight at me.

"Brooke!" Joe called and ran to me. I stood up from the swings and he enveloped me in a hug. I looked up at him and his eyes were red and puffy and I knew he had been crying as well.

"We were worried about you," Joe said and released me.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to be here that long. I sat down on the swings and all the memories came back," I said and shook my head. I closed my eyes to hold back the tears that were stinging at my eyes. Another set of arms surrounded me and I recognized them as Frank's as they were slightly more muscular than Joe's.

"Something could have happened to you!" Frank said sternly.

"I'm sorry," I said and squeezed him tighter.

"We don't know where the man who did this to our parents is," Joe said, "he could be after us!" I shivered. I hadn't realized that whoever had done this might not be done with their work and come back for us. I released Frank.

"Frank? Do you think it's safe at home?" I asked.

"I don't know, but it's the only place we have to go," He replied. He was right. We were all alone in the world now. We had no other family, at least no one that we knew of.

"We should get home," Joe said and led the way back to the sidewalk. We walked in comfortable silence on the way home. Joe paused at the front door of the house and looked back at us. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. I walked into the front hall and looked around like I hadn't been there in years when in reality I had been there just this morning. Joe ran upstairs and I followed him with my eyes, but my body wasn't really ready to move until I noticed that Joe wasn't going into his room, but into mine.

"Joe! What are you doing?" I asked and ran up the stairs behind him. I heard Frank follow me too.

"Joe?" I asked as I saw Joe bend over my backpack.

"There's something Frank and I need to tell you," Joe said.

"No, Joe! We can't tell her," Frank said.

"She could be in danger! She needs to know!" Joe insisted. Joe pulled a small black thing off the back of my backpack.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's a microphone," Joe replied.

"Joe, stop!" Frank said.

"Why is there a microphone on my backpack?! Oh my gosh! Do you think Mom and Dad's murderer put it there?!" I asked starting to panic a little.

"No it wasn't their murderer," Joe said.

"What?" I asked.

"It wasn't their murderer because I put it there," Joe said.

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